The Civil War in America
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Two days after the unsuccessful Union assault on Fort Wagner on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor, Lewis Douglass, son of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, wrote to his fiancée Amelia Loguen to assure her of his safety. Lewis’s thoughts focused on what his comrades in 54th Massachusetts Infantry had achieved at Fort Wagner in earning a reputation for courage and demonstrating their willingness to die for a worthy cause.

(Transcription)

. . . I have been in two fights, and am unhurt . . .


Two days after the unsuccessful Union assault on Fort Wagner on Morris Island in Charleston Harbor, Lewis Douglass, son of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, wrote to his fiancée Amelia Loguen to assure her of his safety. Lewis’s thoughts focused on what his comrades in 54th Massachusetts Infantry had achieved at Fort Wagner in earning a reputation for courage and demonstrating their willingness to die for a worthy cause.